CHUKAI: Pokcik Mat has never missed casting his ballots and always reminds people to come out to vote on polling day.
On Saturday, the 94-year-old, whose full name is Muhammad Abdullah, will be exercising his constitutional right again.
“This Saturday, I will still go out to vote. My children work in Kuala Terengganu and I told them to come home and take me to the polling centre,” he said when met at his house in Bukit Kuang near here.
He told Bernama that he was disappointed that some younger voters do not intend to exercise their rights as citizens.
“They criticise a lot but when the time comes for them to fulfil their responsibility to choose a government, they prefer to spend their time sleeping.
“I hope all Malaysians will go out to vote on Nov 19. It is important because this is our responsibility.
“We have to vote to determine who will lead us,” said Muhammad, who is among 139,423 voters in the Kemaman parliamentary constituency.
In Jertih, Wan Yah Wan Ya’akob, 98, from Kampung Jabi, is also excited to vote despite her ailments, poor vision and hearing.
Her youngest son Harun Md Deli, 62, said he would take his mother to the polling centre on Saturday.
“I sent her to the polling centre in the last general election. Even though my mother’s health is not so good, her memory is still strong.
“She knows it is important to go out to vote,” he said, adding that their polling centre was at SM Jabi, which is nearby.
Harun said based on the asterisk on his mother’s identity card, her real age could be more than 100, adding that he believed that she was the oldest person in the village.
“In the olden days, people used to register late births. My mother is not critically ill. She can still walk but has to be assisted,” he said.